[.ca] Hocus Pocus (ISBN 0425130215)

Pure Vonnegut:
This book is Vonnegut at his best. The story is narrated by the main character, Eugene Dabbs Hartke, discussing the twists and turns that his life has taken and goes on to answer the all important question of how many woman he has slept with in his life. Coming with a large dose of irony, a big dose of satire and a helping of humor, it is close to perfection for Vonnegut. I would not recommend that as an introduction to Vonnegut for I think it takes his style to an extreme that newcomers might not be used to. But anyone who is familiar with the Vonnegut way, this book is highly recommended.

Vonnegut's Best:
Easily my favorite work by Kurt, and I've read them all. Some I have forgotten, others are fond in my heart, but my mind remembers Hocus Pocus above all others. Whenever I'm in need of a book to occupy a week or two and nothing else is striking my fancy at the moment there are three or four book I always go back to and never grow tired of . . . Hocus Pocus is at the top of the list. Just to give prespective on what other novels I like, my other top two favorite books of all time are Brave New World and Catch 22. Take that for what you will. Peace

Great Book (And refutation to some reviws):
Let me first tell you that this is by far one of Vonnegut's best. The social commentary that is diguised in the form of satire is rather tremendous and poignant. It has definitely an anti-war flavor to it, but it never overshadows the real substance of the author's witticism. It's a funny book, but not "hillarious" as the back cover of this volume attests. From a different point of view, it's a rather sad book if you understand the implications of the subject matter. A very good book and would recommend to any one interested in modern and post-modern American prose. Refutations: * Vonnegut is a post-modernist, which implies that the book (or any work of art) can and more likely be free of classical rigidity. So, complaining that he jumps back and forth through time and places is not a good criterion to undermine this work. * Repudiating this work because of Vonnegut's anti-war passages is as unfair as doing the same for say, Hemingway, O'Brian, Dalai Lama. * This is a quinteseential post-moder work, and as said above, it should and does not need to conform to the cannonical rules of plot flow, time flow, and characater development. You could even call this book a Cubist work due to its subdivisions within chapters. * This book goes much more than just war. It goes into love, sex, selling of American enterprises (and hence America) to foreign investors, race, class consciousness, and the attempt to keep the status quo by those who are ver well-off. * This book is completely well structured. Your could easily read just one chapter and be as happy as reading the whole book. The chapters are self-sufficient and self-contained. The further chapters are elaborations of thing, characters and bits from preceding chapters. * This is a GOOD book!

Good, but not great.:
This is an entertaining book, but it is not an example of why Vonnegut is cannonized in modern american literature. Though it is well written,and the plot rather ubelieveable plot but still imaginable, I was never too excited about the book. Vonnegut seemed to be trying to hard to be innovative/alternative in the style of this book, the narrative is delivered over hundreads of scraps of paper. This forced deviance is more obstructive than anything, and the few actually refreshing techniques are hobbled by trite phrases. Anybody who's seen a Vietnam movie will seeminly recognize a good deal of lines in this book. This is still Vonnegut, though, and were it another author I would not have been so harsh. However, there are certainly more aclaimed Vonnegut books out there, and for good reason. Choose them over this one.

A dissappointment to Vonnegut fans:
I'm a big Vonnegut fan. I love his writing style, his subtle humor, and most of all his commentary on the world we live in. I dove right in to Hocus Pocus and was excited to follow up my read of Cat's Cradle. I was greatly disappointed! This is definitely not one of Vonnegut's better works. His style was probably the most consistant factor - it was certainly "Vonnegutesque" - but this book was not as funny or relevant as his others I have read. Of course, it was still good. I give it three stars because it was a worthwhile book in its own right. The plot was interesting, if particulary slow, and the prespectives on war, the educational system, nationalism, and more were unique. But if you go into this book expecting another Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse Five, you're going to be disappointed.